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LYRICS OF LIFE AND LOVE 



WILLIAiM STANLEY BKAITHWAITE 



LYRICS 
OF LIFE AND LOVE 



WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE 



BOSTON 

HERBERT B. TURNER & CO. 

1904 



Copyright 1904 By 
Herbert B. Turner & Company 

Published September 1904 



OCT 



6 1904 



'''vrtfirht Errtry 



FOR permission to reprint several pieces 
in this volume acknowledgment is due to 
the Christian Endeavor Herald, National 
Magazine, Colored American Magazine, Hov/- 
ard Spectator, and others. 



CONTENTS 



RHAPSODY 13 

OUT OF THE SILENCE OF MY DREAMS ... 14 

DIVIDED 15 

TO A PERSIAN ROSE, TO E. A. B l6 , 17 

A DREAM AND A SONG, TO B. V. T. . . . 18 

/ TWO QUESTIONS 19 

A LITTLE SONG, TO T. E. S 20 

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 21 

.^IF I COULD TOUCH 22 

^ EVENING 23, 24 

,,^A LEAVE-TAKING, I 25 

y A LEAVE-TAKING, II 26 

KEATS WAS AN UNBELIEVER 27 

THE WATCHERS 28 

V IN A GRAVE-YARD 29 

THE LAND OF HOPE-TO-BE 30 

A CITY GARDEN 31 

SEA LYRIC 32 

/ DISTANCES 33 

SONG 34 

AN OLD DREAM 35 

LOVE IS A STAR 36 

ON A PRESSED FLOWER IN MY COPY OF KEATS . 37 

^ WHEN TWILIGHT COMES WITH DREAMS ... 38 

THE DEPARTURE OF PIERROTT 39^ 40 

LOUISBERG SQUARE 41 

APRIL ' . 42 

OUT OF THE sunset's RED 43 

TWILIGHT AND DREAMS 44 

love's WAYFARING 45, 46 

SHE SLEEPS BENEATH THE WINTER SNOW . . 47 
LYRIC : WHEN THE STILL SOMBRE EVENING 

CLOSES DOWN 48, 49 



CONTENTS — (Continued) 

child elsie 50 

a sea-prayer 51 

it were as if this world were paradise 52 

yule-song : a memory 5s 

voice of the sea 54 

April's dream 55^ 

on music 5q 

SONG 57 

a lyric of autumn 58 

motherhood 59 

to w. a. w. and h. h. on their departure 

to europe 60 

thanksgiving 6i 

life and death 62 

holly berry and mistletoe 63 

^.' when i bid you good-bye and go . . . 64 

HEART-SONG 65 

BY AN INLAND LAKE 6Q 

SONG 67 

SONG : TO-NIGHT THE STARS ARE WOOING, LOVE 68 

TO-NIGHT ACROSS THE SEA 69 

A MEMORY 70 

AFTER HARVEST 71 

it's A LONG WAY 72 

I BLOW YOU A KISS 73 

SEA-VOICES 74 

TO 75 

IN MY lady's PRAISE 76 

NEAR THE END OF APRIL 77 

HYMN FOR THE SLAIN IN BATTLE .... 78 

A SUMMER night's ENCHANTMENT .... 79 

IN THE HIGH HILLS 80 



TO MY MOTHER 



LYRICS OF LIFE AND LOVE 



RHAPSODY 

I AM glad daylong for the gift of song, 
For time and change and sorrow; 
For the sunset wings and the world-end things 

Which hang on the edge of to-morrow. 
I am glad for my heart whose gates apart 

Are the entrance-place of wonders, 
Where dreams come in from the rush and din 
Like sheep from the rains and thunders. 



[13] 



OUT OF THE SILENCE OF MY DREAMS 

I HEAR a voice that speaks to me 
Out of the silence of my dreams ; 
Somewhere from long eternity 

Where the first white dawn gleams. 

Night and the stars, day and the sun, 
Winds and the trumpets of mid-seas, 

All in one common key they run 
Through deathless melodies. 

Take this, my answer for all time — 
Yea, to his speech, to his command ; 

Surrendering all life of mine 
Unto his heart and hand. 



[i-t] 



DIVIDED 

1 np IS strange that we should fall apart 
A And live divided nights and days! 

What loneliness crowds on the heart, 
What vacancy in eyes that gaze. 

Oh! if there were a little child, 

Whose innocence had made it wise, 

Remembrance would have reconciled 
Its father's face, its mother's eyes. 



[15] 



TO A PERSIAN ROSE * 
To E. A.B. 

IN the world's garden close, 
Where a wild Eden blows, 
Where the earth's treasury 
Hoards by the Arat sea, 
You grew, a rose. 

In the flushed lyric dawn. 
Poignant with scented heat. 
Gold dew you fed upon. 
Gleaming like crystals — sweet 
Stars of the lawn. 

From all the islands blent, 
One thousand essences, 
Odors of ravishment 
Culled from the Eastern seas 
Filled you with scent. 

All the East's lavishness 
Dowered and nurtured you. 
Till past all loveliness 
That the East ever knew, 
Regal you grew. 



[16] 



One June in Maenad-mirth 
The great luxurious Mother 
Gave you strange, mystic birth, — 
Such as she gave no other — 
You child of earth. 

No unguent was too precious 
For the high gods to give; 
No passion too delicious 
Through which you might not live, 
To joy and grieve. 

Long wanton centuries since. 
In days of Rome and Tyre, 
Thou mated once a prince 
Of a great Persian sire 
For Love's desire. 

O thou wast more than fair! 
Thou Rose of Paradise — 
In lips, and cheeks, and hair, — 
All beauty wonder-wise 

'Neath those hot skies. 



[17] 



A DREAM AND A SONG 
To B. V. T. 

A DREAM comes in and a song goes forth; 
The wind is south and the sun is north — 
The daisies run on the dunes to the sea, 
And over the world my soul goes free. 

Ah, over the world to sing and roam 
In the sun and wind — without a home 
Till a woman's heart shall dream and say: 
" O song of the dreamer I bid you stay 

And sing in my heart : make glad my feet 
To run as the winds do, soft and fleet 
Over the dunes and down to the sea. 
Where Love came home in a dream to me." 



[18] 



TWO QUESTIONS 

HEART of the soft, wild rose 
Hid in a forest close 
Far from the world away, 
Sweet for a night and day. 
Rose, is it good to be sweet. 
Sun and the dews to greet? 

Life that is mine to keep 
In travail, play and sleep 
Firm on a tossing ball, 
Drilled to march at a call; 
Work, love, death — these three — 
Life, is there more for me? 



[19] 



A LITTLE SONG 
To T, E. S. 

A LITTLE song ill worth your while 
On which to waste more than a smile, 
Alas, I sing, for love is long — 
A little song. 

Though life be brief and art outlive 
What joy or sorrow earth may give. 
Time, then, might let the years prolong 
A little song. 

And it may chance your face will turn 
Some day, the singer to discern — 
Yea, smile to see who sang so long, 
A little song. 



[20] 



JAMES RUSSEIX LOWELL 

STEEPT in the Muses' youthful, sultry maze, 
He linkt his own with Shakespeare's lucid 
days — 
And Camelot came to Cambridge in his heart, 
Where Rosaline met ancient Britomart. 



[21] 



IF 1 COULD TOUCH 

IF I could touclj jour hand to-night 
And hear you speak one little word, 
I then might understand your flight 
Up the star steps, unseen, unheard. 

If through the mists of gold and gray 
That tint the weary sunset skies, 

There shone two stars across the bay 

That thrilled me like your passionate eyes- 

If only some small part of you 

Would speak, or touch, or rise in sight, 

Death would be then between us two 
The passing of a summer's night. 



[SSi] 



EVENING 

AT my window what delight 
Here to sit and watch the night, 
Stealing after fleeting day, 
Soft and quiet all the way. 
Through my window like a iiute's 
Comes the robin's dying notes, 
While above me dim and far 
Silent breaks the evening star. 

At my window o'er the street. 
In the twilight calm and sweet, 
From dim vistas of the past 
Dreams come to me thick and fast; 
Some are clothed in bright array, 
Phantoms of a happier day — 
Some, wan spectral shades assume. 
Draped in anguished hours of doom. 

This brief span of years we lease 
Gives us fewer hours of peace 
Than it does of strife and toil — 
Therefore when subsides the broil, 
Let it be but one brief hour, 
'Tis a providential dower. 
Just a stop upon the road 
Easing us of life's great load. 
[23] 



So to-night is one of those 

BHssful times of blest repose; 

And in unison I seem 

With night's universal dream. 

All is quiet near and far 

From the lily to the star, 

And my soul in dreamy ease 

Strikes the soothing chords of peace. 



[21] 



A LEAVE-TAKING, I 

LET there be one word more 
Before you go — 
Some sweet old thing 
Remembering, 
Alas to know — 

Some hope you fed, some look you gave. 
Dead now in love's deep grave. 

So, speak — and then depart. 

And I will keep 

The best of you forever in my heart. 

All else shall sleep 

As if death came and taught them to forget. 

Only the best 

Of you shall live without regret. 

Within my breast. 



[25] 



A LEAVE-TAKING, II 

YOUR liand in mine for a space. 
Through a brief living sigh; 
The red rose white in your face, 
And a swift good-bye. 

One moment! ah, could it be 

Life's veriest depth and height ! 

The death of my soul for me — 
And vou — well, the red rose white. 



[26] 



KEATS WAS AN UNBELIEVER 

Keats was not a believer 

— Biographical Sketch 

i 4 T^ EATS was an unbeliever," — so they 

-I. iL read. 

The critic's words defame the poet's soul ; 

Nature and Life as one stupendous whole 
He traced to the source. Thereof a Fountain- 
head: 
His worship was where light enshrined the head 

Of Beauty : — for true love and wisdom stole 

From God to man within her aureole, 
And God's elect but followed where she lead. 

Of God's elect was Keats : his earthly duty 
To sing again the music of creation ; 

That first of all, God's dream of life was Beauty ; 
That Beauty is the seed of all salvation : — 

Holiest of all unbelievers, thus. 

He made " Believing " possible for us. 



[27] 



THE WATCHERS 

TWO women on the lone wet strand 
(The zcind's out with a will to roam) 
The waves wage war on rocks and sand, 
(And a ship is long due home.) 

The sea sprays in the women's ej^es — 

(Hearts can writhe like the sea's wild foam) 

Lower descend the tempestuous skies, 

(For the wind's out with a will to roam.) 

" O daughter, thine eyes be better than mine, 
(The waves ascend high as yonder dome) 

" North or south is there never a sign ? " 
(And a ship is long due home.) 

They watched there all the long night through - 
(The wind's out with a will to roam) 

Wind and rain and sorrow for two, — 
(And heaven on the long reach home.) 



[28] 



IN A GRAVE-YARD 

IN calm fellowship they sleep 
Where the graves are dark and deep, 
Where nor hate nor fraud nor feud 
Mar their perfect brotherhood. 

After all was done they went 
Into dreamless sleep, content, 
That the years would pass them by. 
Sightless, soundless, where they lie. 

Wines and roses, song and dance. 
Have no portion in their trance — 
The four seasons are as one, 
Dark of night, and light of sun. 



[29] 



THE LAND OF HOPE -TO -BE 

THERE'S a way to happiness 
Up the road of Dreams, 
Where my soul goes wayfaring 
By the sleepy streams. 

Heart that sends your memories 

In the shape of song, 
To the land of Hope-to-Be, 

Is the journey long? 

Nay, companion of my house. 

In the longest flight, 
Distance in desire is drowned 

As the day in night. 

Heart and soul go wayfaring 
Up the road of Dreams, 

To the land of Hope-to-Be 
By the sleepy streams. 



[30] 



A CITY GARDEN 

HID in a close and lowly nook 
In a city yard where no grass grows — 
Wherein nor sun, nor stars may look 

Full-faced, — are planted three short rows 
Of pansies, geraniums, and a rose. 

A little girl with quiet, wide eyes. 
Slender figured, in tattered gown. 

Whose pallored face no country skies 
Have quickened to a liealthy brown. 
Made this garden in the barren town. 

Poor little flowers, your life is hard; 
No sun, nor wind, nor evening dew. 

Poor little maid, whose city yard 

Is a world of happ}^ dreams to you — 

God ejrant some day vour dreams come true. 



r •" ] 



SEA LYRIC 

OA'ER the seas to-night, love, 
Over the darksome deeps, 
Over the seas to-night, love, 

Slowly my vessel creeps. 
Over the seas to-night, love, 

Waking the sleeping foam — 
Sailing away from thee, love. 

Sailing from thee and home. 
Over the seas to-night, love, 

Dreaming beneath the spars — 
Till in my dreams you shine, love, 

Bright as the listening stars. 



[32] 



DISTANCES 

JUST wliere that star above 
Shines with a cold, dispassionate smile 
If in the flesh I'd travel there, 
How many, many a mile! 

If this, my soul, should be 

Unprisoned from its earthly bond. 
Time could not count its markless flight 

Beyond that star, beyond! 



[33] 



SONG 

UP and down the beach I wander 
Here to-night beside the sea, 
In my ears the ocean-thunder, 
In my heart the dreams of thee. 

The sea, the sea is high, love, 
Dark, dark, O dark, the sky, love, 
And sad is my heart. 

In thy outward journey passing 

Through the narrow gates of nights 
Was there travail in the massing 
Of the waters void of light .'^ 

O the sea, the sea is high, love, 
Swift surge the waters by, love, 
And sad is my heart. 



[34] 



AN OLD DREAM 

YOU sang that song beside an olden sea, 
In some low dream, some hundred years 
ago; 
The time, the place is all unknown to me — 

It is the feeling in my heart I know. 
We were two Grecians then, I do believe. 

And caught a dream some fair god's passion 
sighed ; 
Time wandered far, and left our hearts to 
grieve — 
But somewhere Love lived on, though all else 
died. 

Dear, as you sing, it all comes back to me; 

The mood, though filled with centuries of 
strife 
Is the same ecstasj'^ ; only the sea 

Seems grown a little weary of its life. 
No change has come unto your voice and heart, 

No shadow on your face ; and in your eyes — 
Though Time has kept them from my eyes 
apart — 

The rapture of sea-dreams and memories. 



[35] 



LOVE IS A STAR 

THIS is the song I sing for you, 
Out of my heart the melodies rise — 
Life is long for the brave and true, 
Love is a star to your faithful eyes. 

This is the dream your heart must hold 
One in the world is faithful still — 

Here is warmth from the wind and cold, 
Here is rest from the sea and hill. 



[36] 



ON A PRESSED FLOWER IN MY 
COPY OF KEATS 

AS Keats' old honeyed volume of romance 
I oped to-day to drink its Latmos air, 
I found all pressed a white flower lying where 
The shepherd lad watched Pan's herd slow ad- 
vance. , 
Ah, then what tender memories did chance 5 
To bring again the day, when from your hair^ 
This frail carnation, delicate and fair, 
Y^ou gave me, that I now might taste its trance. 
And so to-day it brings a mellow dream 
Of that sweet time when but to hear you speak 
Filled all my soul. What waves of passion seem 
About this flower to linger and to break. 
Lit by the glamor of the moon's pale beam 
The while my heart weeps for this dear flower's 
sake. 



[37] 



WHEN TWILIGHT COMES WITH DREAMS 

OLET the music play a little longer, 
And sweetheart clasp me closer to your 
breast. 
Life is strong, and death ; but love is stronger — 
And sweeter, sweeter, rest. 

Oh, sweet is rest when love is watching over, 
And twiight comes with dreams that reassure ; 

Weaving out of the silences that hover 
Hopes which must endure. 



[38] 



THE DEPARTURE OF PIERROTT . 

WE have housed, my Columbine, 
With our songs and books and dreams, 
Quiet and content it seems 
Through the winter's cloud and shine. 

In our little attic room 

Looking o'er the city square. 

Quite outside the world of care, 
All unaltered by its gloom, — 

Thou and I, my Columbine, 

Let the world of men below 

Unacquainted come and go, 
In secludedness divine. 

Ah, those nights, so long, were sweet. 

And we shall not soon forget 

Love songs sung in a duet, 
Far above the city street. 

And the company 'twas ours 

To abide in — Tennyson, 

Shelley, Keats, and Emerson — 
Joyed us in those winter hours. 



[39] 



So, my Columbine, together 

We lived the long season through 

Till March came, whose wild winds blew 

Us to days of April weather. 

All the first sweet dreams of Spring 

Born again of new desires. 

In me light unquenching fires 
To be up and wandering. 

Newer hopes have won my trust — 

I but answer to the call, 

April smiling over all 
Fills my soul with wander-lust. 

There is magic in the stir 

When our mother April wakes; 
Some wild riot in me breaks 

When I feel the pulse of her. 

On the slowly greening slopes 
Something in the hanging haze. 
Luring, leads my tramping ways 

On a quest for April Hopes. 

Nature keeps an open house, 

I am bidden to her board; 

And she fills me from her hoard 
Where the sons of earth carouse. 

[40] 



LOUISBERG SQUARE 

A QUIET little space, set in 
Upon the sloping hillside, where 
Comes not the sound of traffic's din 
To mi the air. 

The stately houses on each side. 

The little park which lies between — 
Plow in seclusion, all abides 
A quiet dream. 



[41] 



APRIL 

AT morn when light mine eyes unsealed 
I gazed upon the open field; 
The rain had fallen in the night — 
The landscape in the new day's light 
A countenance of grace revealed 
Upon the meadow, wood and height. 

The sun's light was a smile of gold, 

Ere shut by sudden fold on fold 

Of surging, showering clouds from view; 

No sooner hid than it broke through 

A tearful smile upon the wold 

Where earth reflected heaven's blue. 

Each separate divided part 

Of day, was as the threefold art 

Of God, who dreamed three dreams and made 

The morning, noon, and night parade 

In ever changing guise athwart 

The day's hours, in His dreams arrayed. 

The sky was as a canvas spun 

To paint the new spring's nocturns on ; 

A blended melody of tints — 

The sea's hue, and the myriad hints 

Of garden-closes, when the sun 

Hath stamped the work of nature's mints. 

[42] 



OUT OF THE SUNSET'S RED 

OUT of the sunset's red 
Into the blushing sea, 
The winds of day drop dead 

And dreams come home to me. - 
The sea is still, — and apart 
Is a stillness in my heart. 

The night comes up the beach, 
The dark steals over all, 

Though silence has no speech 
I hear the sea-dreams call 

To my heart ; — and in reply 

It answers with a sigh. 



[4S] 



TWILIGHT AND DREAMS 

AT the outer edge of the world, 
Where the long grey mists arise, 
Between the sunset and the sea 
I gaze with longing eyes. 

O the twilight and dreams for me, 
And the things my fancy paints — 

My hopes the light upon the sea 
Which slowly faints and faints. 

The surge and beat of the sea. 

The mournful and endless dole, — 

They swell with a thousand questionings 
And overflow my soul. 



[44] 



LOVE'S WAYFARING 

DO you remember, love — 
How long ago it seems — 
When by the pebbled cove, 

Our sweet, fair dreams 
Took wing? 

Alas, how long it is — 

What wasted years between; 

What untouched hours of bliss ; 
And unlived dream — 

Time's sting! 

Were not the high tides sweet! 

The sails upon the stream — 
The billows' bounding beat. 

The sea-gull's scream 
And swing. 

What murmuring music rose 

From zephyr's low-tuned chords. 

To which in love's repose 
Our hearts made words 

To sing. 



[45] 



Ah, sweet, where is Love gone? 

To what bourne, east or west, 
Shall you and I alone 

Bide his behest 
Wand'ring ? 



[46] 



SHE [SLEEPS BENEATH THE WINTER SNOW 

SHE sleeps beneath the winter snow 
In Cedar's wintry vale; 
The winter stars above her shine, 

The pines about her wail, 
And icy winds do chill and blow. 
My Ciceline, my Ciceline, 

Sleeps deep and low 
Beneath the snow. 

I sit beside my fire bright 

And watch the embers glow, 
And yet to-night so dark and chill 

She sleeps beneath the snow. 
And though the place be hid from sight, 
My dreams its gloomy darkness fill — 

With Ciceline's my heart is low 

Beneath the winter snow. 



[47] 



LYRIC: WHEN THE STILL SOMBRE 
EVENING CLOSES DOWN 

WHEN the stillj sombre evening closes down 
Amid the autumn preludes of the wood, 
I feel my soul take on its dreamy mood 
'Midst nature's gold and brown. 

The dear old dreams of June — blue-bird and 
rose 
Have sunk into these sadder phantasies, 
And once again old buried memories 

Wake from their long repose. 

Ah, when I look on Hesper clear and bright. 
The thought of one dear autumn, sad and cool, 
Transports me to a bygone forest pool 

One long gone autumn night. 

Now that my vision brightens, memory brings 
That forest opening — sere leaves, the sheen 
Of moonlight which soft stole the leaves be- 
tween 

In their down flutterings. 



[48] 



How solemn was the scene — that solitude! 
Those fulgent woods our holy marriage house 
Where Zephyrus sang his choral through the 
boughs 

To bless us where we stood. 

Ah, memory! dear conjurer of tears! 
Bring vividly the vision of that night, 
When our two hearts pledged by kind nature's 
rite 

A union through the years. 



[49] 



CHILD ELSIE 

FOR love of the sea, Child Elsie, 
Untethered the dory's rope, 
To ride with native impulse 
The water's rise and slope. 

For love of the seaman's maiden. 
The mew-tides running down. 

Swept out to sea the dorj 
Afar from the fishing town. 



[50] 



A SEA-PRAYER 

LORD of wind and water 
Where the ships go down 
Reaching to the sunrise, 
Lifting like a crown, 

Out of the deep-hidden 
Wells of night and day — 
Mind the great sea-farers 
On the open way. 

When the last lights darken 
On the far coastline, 
Wave and port and peril 
Sea-Lord — all are thine. 



[51] 



IT WERE AS IF THIS WORLD WERE 
PARADISE 

IT were as if this world were Paradise, 
That little hour when by the dancing sea 
I told thee of the love I had for thee. 
There seemed a newer glory in the skies 
When thou didst look with pitying sweet eyes 
Upon me when I pleaded. I felt that we 
Did balance in some mystic harmony 
Of old rose-gardens and low ocean sighs. 
The sunshine stole some glory from your hair: 
The sea, the magic of your eyes of blue — 
The grace of all your nature soft and fair 
Fill'd all the world until an Eden grew; 
You were a gracious Eve beside me there. 
And all the world was Paradise with you. 



[52] 



YULE-SONG: A MEMORY 

DECEMBER comes, snows come, 
Comes the wintry weather; 
Faces from away come — 
Hearts must be together. 

Down the stair-steps of the hours 
Yule leaps the hills and towers — 
Fill the bowl and hang the holly, 
Let the times be jolly. 

Day comes, and night comes 
And the guests assemble — 
Once again the old dream comes 
That I would dissemble. 

Falls a shadow 'cross the floor, 
Seen! — and is seen no more. 
O that memory would forego 
The hanging of the Mistletoe. 



[53] 



VOICE OF THE SEA * 

VOICE of the sea that calls to me, 
Heart of the woods my own heart loves, 
I am part of your mystery — 

Moved by the soul your own soul moves. 

Dream of the stars in the night-sea's dome, 
Somewhere in your infinite space 

After the years I will come home, 

Back to your halls to claim my place. 



[54] 



APRIL'S DREAM 

THE stream's breath tastes of the wood's 
perfume, 
Filled are the woods with foam: 
And the sea like a sheet 'neath the summer noon, 

With the languorous swerve runs home. 
The beat of a pulse the warm sun stirs 

In the air^ the sea and stream, 
Beckons the heart — and the soul allures 
Forth, into April's dream. 



[55] 



I 
i 

I 

t 

ON MUSIC ' I 

I CANNOT tell how high my soul takes 
wing, 
Nor to what depths in liquid sweets it sinks — 
Yet well I know it suffers from thy sting, 

As one who of Cyceon mixture drinks. 
And I can feel a rose-stream thro' me creep, 
Curving about my senses, as they leap, 
And swell and rise and fall. 
As blossoms ambrosial 
Shook from some full blown orange-tree in 
spring, 

Sink wav'ring to the ground 
And bound 
Unto the zephyr's piping, in dizzy, dizzy ring! 



[53] 



SONG 

OVER the long, the wide dark seas, 
Wandering, goes my dream. 
Borne on winnowings of the breeze 

High as the heavens seem. 
And O, dear love, where the waters foam 

Further than pulsing star, 
Wandering still my old dreams roam 
Far from the shore — yea far! 



[57] 



A LYRIC OF AUTUMN 

THERE is music in the meadows, in the 
air — 
Autumn is here; 
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow, 
Leaves are crimson, brown, and yellow; 

Pines are soughing, birches stir, 
And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir. 

There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields, 

Nature yields: 
And the harvest voices crying. 
Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing; 

Tone and color, frost and fire. 
Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre. 



[58] 



MOTHERHOOD 

WITH what angelic countenance 
She wonders as she sits alone, 
With tender fear, and musing glance 

Because a life is in her own. 
Ah! if a woman should be loved 

'T is when she hears the silent voice, 
'T is when an unknown life has moved 

Her soul to fear and to rejoice. 
'T is when amidst life's blithesome scenes, 

A something speaks she cannot hear, 
And quells her spirit till it dreams 

The sacred thing she is to bear. 
Ah! what is needed most to bless 

The weary waiting of the time! 
Love's duty rendered tireless 

To cheer her holy state sublime ; 
A tender presence that would teach 

Her more than laws of science could; 
That, life belongs to each and each. 

To Fatherhood and Motherhood! 



[59] 



TO W. A. W. AND H. H. * 

on their Departure to Europe 

GOOD-BYE, and may your journey be 
Through nights with pleasant stars 
above, 
And may your days upon the sea 

Your souls with wonder fill and move. 
By night the lyric-light of stars, 
By day the pulsing tidal wars. 

And may you safely reach the port 

Where sweet the old-world dreams repose 

In garden, vale, and palace-court, 
Where long ago the sounds arose 

Of feudal strife — and song took wing — 

When men were brave, and Love was King. 

And when you shall have made your stay 

Through summer-moons that filled and waned. 

May westward autumn lead your way 
Untroubled, till your home is gained. 

So may propitious fortune keep 

And bring you safely o'er the deep. 



[60] 



THANKSGIVING 

MY heart gives thanks for many things; 
For strength to labor day by day, 
For sleep that comes when darkness wings 

With evening up the eastern way. 
I give deep thanks that I'm at peace 

With kith and kin and neighbors, too — 
Dear Lord, for all last year's increase. 
That helped me strive and hope and do. 

My heart gives thanks for many things; 

I know not how to name them all. 
My soul is free from frets and stings, 

My mind from creed and doctrine's thrall. 
For sun and stars, for flowers and streams, 

For work and hope and rest and play — 
For empty moments given to dreams. 

For these my heart gives thanks to-day. 



[61] 



LIFE AND DEATH * 

I RENTED once a house of clay, 
An object beautiful to see — 
I lighted it with pleasant thoughts 
And Life 'twas named by Mystery. 

And when long years therein I lived 
I moved into a fairer clime, 

And then my house was named anew — 
For it was christened Death, by Time. 



[62] 



HOLLY BERRY AND MISTLETOE 

THE trees are bare, wild flies the snow, 
Hearths are glowing, hearts are merry- 
High in the air is the Mistletoe, 
Over the door is the Holly Berry. 

Never have care how the winds may blow, 
Never confess the revel grows weary — 

Yule is the time of the Mistletoe, 
Yule is the time of the Holly Berry. 



[ 63 ] 



WHEN I BID YOU GOOD-BYE 'AND GO 

WHEN I bid you good-bye and go 
I do not want your tears to flow, 
For I have filled so small a part 
In your great heart. 

And I shall sleep below and dream 
You have been good to let it seem 
I hved in all your heart — your life 
Without one strife. 

It cost so little — so, be kind 
To keep a portion in your mind 
Of me — remembering that I gave 
Up to the grave. 



[6i.] 



HEART-SONG 



D 



EAR heart, what tho' I press the heed- 



less throng 



While high the stars shine in their blue re- 
treat, 
If so, I unto thee with heart of song 
Wend thro' the street. 

Dear heart, what tho' my song's inaudible 
Unto this ceaseless, surging, heartless 
throng — 
Far from the crowd wilt thou not hear it well 
All the night long? 



[65] 



BY AN INLAND LAKE 

LONG drawn, the cool, green shadows 
Steal o'er the lake's warm breast, 
And the ancient silence follows 
The burning sun to rest. 

The calm of a thousand summers, 
And dreams of countless Junes, 

Return when the lake-wind murmurs 
Thro' golden, August noons. 



[66 



SONG 

I WENT down the ways of the roses this 
noon, 
The birds were in tune with the infinite skies, 
And all my heart sang, " It is June, it is June," 
And all my soul teemed with the lovely sur- 
prise. 
As I went down the ways of the roses this noon. 

And into my garden the shades bade them 
come, 
The wayfaring dreams that came forth of 
the sun : 
" Come, rest," said the roses, " ere further ye 
roam ; " 
" Be my guests," said my heart, " till the day 
it be done," 
As into my garden the shades bade them come. 

O long the dreams tarried within that sweet 
place, 
And unto my heart and the roses they told. 
How on their long travel they met with a face 
All clouded with hair of the sun's fairest 
gold — 
And my heart and the roses sighed in the sweet 
place. 

[67] 



SONG: TO-NIGHT THE STARS ARE 
WOOING, LOVE 

TO-NIGHT the stars are wooing, love. 
The moon is full of languishment ; 
Low in the eastern firmament 
Little, the golden waves above — 

My dreams are wand'ring pensive-wise 
Unto the bourne of echo-sighs 
Beneath the stars, within the grove. 

To-night the rose-leaves fell apart. 

And at their core the sweet dews dwell, 
While dreams of echo in the shell 

Conjures the crimson-scented heart. 
So, love, thy sweet influence steals 
Upon me, and my spirit heals, 

And dreams what loveliness thou art. 



[68] 



TO-NIGHT ACROSS THE SEA 

TO-NIGHT I sent a dream across the sea, 
Beyond the bourne where sky and water 
meet; 
Its ghost came back in mournful melody 
Of waters at my feet. 

The dream gone out, its ghost abides with me, 

A visitant of sorrow in my heart ; 
And ever clings thereto the mystery 
The mournful seas impart. 



[69] 



A MEMORY 

MY heart to thee an answer makes, 
O long, slow whisper of the sea, 
Whose charm of mournful music wakes 
A dream, a memory. 

Touched hands, met lips, and soft fair speech 
Soul's silence to the past replies. 

When love and hope illumined each, 
Within a girl's blue eyes. 



[70] 



AFTER HARVEST 

FAINT is the speech of the tired heart 
To the call of dreams replying, 
When hope wends home across the fields 
Where the rose o' the year is dying. 

O weary head and heart and hands 
Look up where the sun is dying — 

Love leads you home across the fields 
To the call of dreams replying. 



[71] 



IT'S A LONG WAY 

IT'S a long way the sea-winds blow 
Over the sea-plains blue, — 
But longer far has my heart to go 
Before its dreams come true. 

It's work we must^ and love we must, 

And do the best we may. 
And take the hope of dreams in trust 

To keep us day by day. 

It's a long way the sea-winds blow — 
But somewhere lies a shore — 

Thus down the tide of Time shall flow 
My dreams forevermore. 



[73] 



I BLOW YOU A KISS 

I BLOW you a kiss on the evening wind 
My dear, wherever you be ; 
Up In the north or down In the south, 
Or over the rolKng sea. 

I blow you a kiss, but after the kiss 
Do you know what follows, my dear? 

Something the wind cannot bring to you — 
Only a little tear. 



[73] 



SEA VOICES 

O'ER the wintry sea, 
Mingled with its tone 
Comes a voice to me, 

That's not the sea's own. 

Low and soft it is. 

Near and far away — 

Sad as winds that kiss 
The sea beyond the bay. 

Soulless, restless, swell, 
O what radiant guest, 

Sad, invisible. 

Hovers o'er thy breast .^^ 

Gray rocks and gray sea, 
Stretch of barren shore, 

Grief and memory 
Claim me evermore. 



Cr^] 



TO 



HALF in the dim light from the hall 
I saw your fingers rise and fall 
Along the pale, dusk-shadowed keys, 
And heard your subtle melodies. 

The magic of your mastery leant 
Your soul unto the instrument; 
Strange-wise, its spell of power seemed 
To voice the visions that you dreamed. 

The music gave my soul such wings 
As bore me through the shadowings 
Of mortal bondage ; flight on flight 
I circled dreams' supremest height. 

Above were tender twilight skies, 

Where stars were dreams and memories — 

The long forgotten raptures of 

My youth's dead fires of hope and love. 



[76] 



IN MY LADY'S PRAISE 

GOD wrought you flesh and hair and eyes 
From some immortal loom and dyes ; 
For thou art filled with every rare 
And precious thing of earth, sky, air. 
The magical blue of warm June skies 
Gleams in your calm and sultry eyes ; 
The unguent of the fragrant fields 
No sweeter, subtler perfume yields 
Than the aroma of your breath. 
Delicate fragrance attarred 'neath 
The sculptured, firm, white beauty of 
Y^our throat, arched stately there above 
The undulation of your breast 
That heaves with love's divine unrest. 



[76] 



NEAR THE END OF APRIL 

NEAR the end of April, 
On the verge of May — 
And O my heart, the woods were dusk 
At the close of day. 

Half a word was spoken 

Out of half a dream, 
And God looked in my soul and saw 

A dawn rise and gleam. 

Near the end of April 

Twenty Mays have met, 
And half a word and half a dream 

Remember and forget. 



Lof 



[77] 



HYMN FOR THE SLAIN IN BATTLE 

LORD, God of all in Life and Death, 
The winter's storm, the summer's breath, 
Of fragrant bloom, — whose Mighty hand 
Decrees the pow'r of sea and land, 
Hear, Lord, this prayer for those who are 
Slain in the hour of thund'rous war. 
Have mercy. Lord, on those who fall 
Rent by the iron-splintered ball. 
Reck not their cause was right or wrong, 
'Twas Duty led them blind and strong. 
They shaped not what to war gave rise — 
They make the greatest sacrifice. 



[78] 



A SUMMER NIGHT'S ENCHANTMENT 

THE perfume of the garden blows 
Fill'd full with scent of musk and rose; 
The Kttle bay beneath us here 
Is Hke a woman's jeweled hair, 
Studded with sparkling shafts of light 
Reflected from the diamond'd height. 
And somewhere in the grove is heard 
The passion of some love-lorn bird; 
And you, my dear, beside me here 
With joy around us everj^where. 



[79] 



IN THE HIGH HILLS 

HEIGHT overhead to the deeps 
Where the gleaming day-star peeps 
From the bosom of the dawn 
In God's infinite blue lawn. 

The wings of the winds are whirled 
Over the face of the world — 
And the echo of them fills 
The everlasting hills. 



[80] 



WIS 



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WERT 
BOOKBINCMNC 

Crantv.lle, Pa 
Nov Dec 1988 








